Multicultural Approach to Learning History and Geography at School in Europe

Author(s):  
Valentina Zangrando ◽  
Antonio M. Seoane Pardo ◽  
Francisco José García-Peñalvo ◽  
Alicia García Holgado ◽  
Lucía García Holgado

MIH project (Multicultural Interdisciplinary Handbook: Tools for Learning History and Geography in a Multicultural Perspective) is a Comenius Multilateral Project funded with support from the European Commission that was developed from 2009 to 2011. Conceived from the idea of educating lower and upper secondary school pupils in a process of construction of a European identity by involving them in the culture of other countries, the MIH project meets this need by providing new methodological and ICT tools that could help teachers and pupils plunge deeper into both the cultures and languages of other nations via their history and geography. This chapter describes the multicultural approach that has oriented the project development and MIH’s most significant results, and opens the way to introduce a European perspective in history and geography school curricula and classroom activities.

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 69-86
Author(s):  
Matti Rautiainen ◽  
Anna Veijola

Historian opetuksen yhteydessä on viimeisten kahden vuosikymmenen aikana puhuttu erityisesti opetuksen suuntaamisesta sisältöjen opettamisesta historian taitojen ja demokraattisena kansalaisena toimimisen suuntaan. Tavoitteet edellyttävät myös käytäntöjen muuttumista. Tässä artikkelissa tarkastellaan lukion historian opetusta opetuskokeilun kautta. Kokeilussa hyödynnettiin pelillisyyttä sekä historiallista empatiaa. Kahdeksan tuntia kestäneen pelin aikana opiskelijoiden tehtävänä oli konstruoida tietoa vuonna 1957 tapahtuneesta ampumavälikohtauksesta presidentin kesäasunnolla Kultarannassa. Aineisto kerättiin opetuskokeilun yhteydessä (N = 30 lukiolaista) kyselylomakkeen ja haastattelun avulla. Aineisto analysoitiin James Endacottin ja Sarah Brooksin historiallisen empatian määritelmän avulla. Tulosten mukaan opiskelijat pitäytyivät historian tulkinnassa vahvasti kognitiivisessa prosessissa, vaikka historiallisen empatian perustaan ja näin historian ymmärtämiseen kuuluu Endacottin ja Brooksin mukaan myös affektiivisuus eli kyky ymmärtää historiassa toimineen ihmisen kokemuksia omien, samankaltaisten kokemusten avulla. Tämä ulottuvuus näyttää kuitenkin lähes kokonaan puuttuvan lähestymistapana historian kouluopetuksesta. Sen vahvempi mukaan tuominen osaksi historian opetusta vahvistaisi myös opiskelijoiden tulokulmia historian ymmärtämiseen.   What’s the name of the game? Historical empathy and gamification in history teaching Abstract Objectives of history teaching has been under changes in curricula of basic education and general upper secondary school during the past two decades in Finland. Alongside with history contents, history skills and active, democratic citizenship are emphasized in the curricula. In addition, new teaching methods have been implemented. In this article we study history teaching in general upper secondary school based on a teaching experiment, in which historical empathy and gamification were used. In an eight-hour game students solved the mystery of Kultaranta shootings in 1957. Data was collected via on-line questionaire and interviews. Data was analysed from the viewpoint of James Endacott and Sarah Brooks' definition for historical empathy. According to the results, students’ interpretations were based on cognitive process, and perspective taking as well as affective connection were in margin. Keywords: gamification, historical empathy, history learning, history teaching, upper secondary school


Author(s):  
Anna-Maria Stenseth ◽  
Unn-Doris K. Bæck

AbstractThis study explores the influence of geographical location on young pupils’ educational orientations and their transition from lower to upper secondary school; it pays particular attention to the voices of male youths from a rural area. More specifically, it investigates the interplay between gender and geographical contexts and the significance of these factors in understanding the processes associated with educational orientations. Margaret Archer’s framework is used to analyse how pupils’ agency is constrained and/or enabled by objective structures. The data material consists of qualitative interviews with 18 pupils transitioning from lower to upper secondary school in Norway. Each of the pupils was interviewed twice: first when they were in their last year of lower secondary education, and then during their first year of upper secondary education. The findings show that pupils consider geographical locations when making decisions about further education and work. In addition, they believe that education beyond compulsory schooling benefits their life in the rural areas. However, unlike their urban counterparts, pupils from rural areas appear to have a more constraining transition to upper secondary education. Through the analyses in this article, it becomes clear that both geographical location and gender are key factors for understanding processes connected to education.


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